Etiology and relative development of post-harvest fruit-rot of banana in indigenous cultivars adapted to hill and plain agro-ecosystems of Meghalaya

Indigenous cultivation of banana in Meghalaya has developed over the decades which have been transferred to the generations. To ascertain the etiology and access the relative prevalence of previously unexplored post-harvest fruit rot of banana in Meghalaya, two selected districts namely Ri-bhoi and East Khasi hills were repeatedly surveyed from August to November during the year 2019. The highest disease incidence and severity was found in the lower altitude (41-1957 meters) locations of Ri-bhoi district during the warmer months of the year 2019 and lowest was observed in the higher altitude locations (1220-1830 meters) of East Khasi Hills district during the cooler months of the year. The months of August and September having relatively higher maximum and minimum temperatures in the warmer plain agroecosystem exhibited more incidence (32.5-56.47%) and severity (6.95-11.87%) of the disease. Diverse fungal pathogens, such as Colletotrichum musae, Fusarium sp, Curvularia sp, Aspergillus spp, Penicillium sp, and Pestalotiopsis sp, Bipolaris sp, were found to be associated with the samples collected from marketacquired banana fruit rot symptom. The pathogen, C. musae occurred in almost all the banana samples collected from the survey locations. The study highlights that banana varieties in plain ecology are more susceptible to the disease, while those in the hill ecology display higher resistance, emphasizing the importance of hill banana varieties in cultivation strategies.. KEYWORDS :Colletotrichum musae, disease incidence, Musa spp.